It's a family affair

In both historical and contemporary romance novels, the powerful ties between husband and wife, mother and child, sister and sister weave a vivid tapestry of emotionally gratifying stories this month.

Power to the women

Linda Lael Miller has made the New York Times bestseller list six times, and been a beloved and popular writer of series and mass market romance for many years. Yet she has never forgotten her own personal struggles.

Tying in with the release of her latest novel from Pocket Books, Miller is personally sponsoring a scholarship opportunity for women who want to improve themselves but lack the financial means.

For more information about the three $5,000 scholarships, visit the publisher's Web site (http://www.simonsays.com), check the back of The Vow, or write to Pocket Books, One Vow for Women, 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020.

Sandy Huseby: Why are you sponsoring this scholarship for women?
Linda Lael Miller: Mainly because I'm so thankful for all the blessings I've been given. I want to share. And I believe in women and hope to do my part to empower as many as I can. This program will expand if it goes over well.

SH: You've been a successful popular fiction writer for many years now. What does the writing life mean to you?
LLM: My writing is my joy, second only to my daughter, Wendy, the up-and-coming rock singer. I've had my share of hard knocks and honestly don't know if I would have survived without the support of my dear friend, Debbie Macomber. Her sense of humor has been my saving grace more times than I can count.

The talents of both Miller and Macomber are ready for readers to sample this month in The Vow and Montana. And who knows, maybe the next successful romance writer will start with a winning entry in Miller's contest.

REVIEWS BY SANDY HUSEBY

"Forsaking all others, till death do us part." That timeless marriage vow was broken 12 years earlier by Annabel and Gabe McKeigh in the aftermath of their daughter Susannah's death.

Rather than stay and cope with her husband, Annabel takes their son, Nicholas, and flees back East. But Nicholas immediately chafes at the unfamiliar east and the distance from his father and insists on returning to their Parable, Nevada, ranch.

Now it's 1878 and Annabel is back, where she must confront a dozen years of separation and decide whether or not to reclaim what she abandoned. She may have left, but Gabe broke his vow too, by turning to his longtime friend, Julia Sermon, for consolation instead of his wife. Passions have always burned hot between Annabel and Gabe, but will they forsake others to rebuild their marriage? Annabel and Gabe McKeigh reach up from the page to draw you into their lives, struggles, and triumphs.

The Vow explores the challenges of marriage and affirms that enduring love is a vital foundation on which relationships are built.


Sometimes the sparkle plays false, as Lucy Barnstable learns in Constance Laux's Devil's Diamond, a captivating tale of a Victorian spinster, with a penchant for investigating, torn between her beloved father and a mystery man.

Romance and mystery are afoot in this scintillating, witty tale of reckless honor and skullduggery in Victorian England.


In The Best Man by Maggie Osborne, three spoiled, contentious girls start on the cattle drive to Abilene. The Roark sisters, Frederick, Alexander, and Leslie, none man enough to suit their late father, must succeed in bringing 2,000 longhorns up from Texas, or see the ranch turned over to their father's fourth wife. They start out clumsy and prideful with misplaced loyalties and jealousies.

Trail boss Dal Frisco has his own past to do penance for as he leads the journey across miles of treacherous landscape and into unexplored territory -- the nuances of the human heart.

Despite stampedes, thievery, and villainy, the Roark sisters persevere. In the process, the daughters of Joe Roark discover bonds of loving, sisterhood, and courage beyond their imagining.

Move over, L'Amour and McMurtry; these days, the best man in Western writing is Maggie Osborne.


In Montana by Debbie Macomber, single mom Molly Cogan struggles to make a life for her two sons after her ex-husband goes to prison. But her sons' delinquency and her financial struggles in San Francisco are overwhelming.

When Sam Dakota prods her to return to her ailing grandfather's Montana ranch, she grasps at the chance to start anew.

But Sam's murky past and the loss of her grandfather leave her worrying if she can keep this heritage for her children. Danger torn from today's headlines (a survivalist group determined to make the ranch theirs), a campaign of vandalism, and the discovery that Sam himself is an ex-con challenge Molly to rise above the mistrust learned in her past in order to build a new life and family on the rugged Montana range.

Macomber's characters always bring a warmth of spirit and hope that leaves a soft glow like an aurora across the big Montana sky.


The intricate and fragile bonds of love and sisterhood face new challenges in Thorns of Truth, Eileen Goudge's riveting sequel to Garden of Lies. Rose, the daughter Sylvie abandoned, and Rachel, the daughter Sylvie chose and protected for years, now confront a new generation of entanglements.

Add the engagement between Rachel's daughter Iris and Rose's son Drew, and Thorns of Truth makes for an involving and compelling tale.


Sandy Huseby writes and reviews from her home in Fargo, North Dakota. She can be reached online at SHuseby@aol.com.

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